Abstract

Despite the large body of research linking low resting heart rate to antisocial behavior broadly, significantly less work has been done linking heart rate to psychopathic traits. The small body of research on the topic that has been conducted, has found an overall inverse relationship between the two constructs. A significant minority of studies have found the opposite results, however, and many prior studies have been limited by small sample sizes and unrepresentative samples. The current study attempts to help clarify the relationship between resting heart rate and psychopathic traits in a large, nationally representative sample using an alternative measure of psychopathic traits that is less focused on antisocial processes. No significant relationship between heart rate and psychopathic traits, or heart rate and a measure of cold heartedness, was found after controlling for age, sex, and race. Implications of the findings, study limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.